Bleeding Hearts. [Escalation. IC. Invite Only.]

[Forest State]

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OOC Thread | News Thread | Theme Song

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This is the IC thread for Bleeding Hearts, the first RP in the Escalation RP series. As of now, the series is invite only and posting is restricted to those in the thread.

[Forest State]

DeepBlue. Part One: Mercenaires.

North of Bellavista, People's Republic of Conai

Collab post with Lunas Legion

It was after hours at the Military Intelligence Building in Junay, the capital of the Latin Union. The majority of staff had finished their jobs for the day, and were stuck in the dense Junay traffic as they made the trip back to their homes, and the usually busy halls were suddenly sparse. There were some people left over, however. Night guards, those who had late shifts monitoring situations all around the world, and cleaning people. Even a few agents staying overnight to research things related to their work. Two of those people happened to be quite notable, for different reasons.

The first was Vincent Blanc, the head of the Military Intelligence Special Operations Division. The position could be likened to being the commander of a secretive paramilitary, one that was funded with a black budget and tasked with protecting the interests of a populace that largely didn’t know they existed. At least, the populace didn’t know they existed beyond having vague ideas of secretive operations and shady actions in foreign nations. As the leader of the division, Blanc was the main one responsible for clearing agents to work on the special teams. That was the reason behind him being in the office after hours today.

By his side was Ryla Hallanan, who didn’t have a high position but came from a high place regardless. The Hallanan family wasn’t a celebrity one, but it was known within the military and intelligence community. Ryla’s grandfather, Marius Hallanan, was a very influential figure and had shaped Latin foreign policy during his time as the director of Military Intelligence. Her father, Ciaran, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Prime Minister Sylvain Arcuri. He’d gotten the position through spending time in LMI, just as his father had done. Ryla’s brother, Kian, was a current member of the Latin Special Operations Group and by all accounts had shown great potential in training to move up the ranks in the future. So it was safe to say the family was known by those in the same field.

And Ryla, she was following the path of her uncle Dubhan and had entered a career in the Special Operations Division. It had been months since the end of her last assignment, and in true Hallanan spirit, Ryla was pushing for another one. “I can fucking handle it, if you’ll excuse my language. Do I look like someone that’s hung up on the past? I’ve already cleared psych evaluations, twice. There’s… There’s things happening all over the world and I just want to get involved with them. Not sit around at home and explain to my family that I’m trying to head out again but that you guys won’t let me.”

They entered an office, the one that belonged to Blanc. He gestured for Ryla to sit down across from him, and she did, on the other side of a desk that had numerous files spread across it. “Look, Ryla. You spent time setting up a resistance in Hanoa, the most authoritarian country in the world. It’s something that would take a toll on anyone, even the most experienced agent. But that’s not even the main thing you went through during your last assignment. You watched seven of your colleagues burn alive, and you almost shared the same fate. That’s not something that people recover from quickly-”

“Don’t tell me how fast it’s going to take me to recover from my… Traumatic events. I get it. You’re surprised that I’m not ready to blow my brains out after watching it all happen, and watching everything that I worked for over there get destroyed in the space of a few weeks. But I’ve already talked to doctors who are experts in this kind of thing. They said I’m cleared to return to activities in the field-”

“Being cleared to return doesn’t make it a good idea, necessarily. It would be a bad thing if you were out in the field and you cracked under pressure because you still haven’t healed from the past, yes?” asked Blanc, rhetorically. “I’m not saying that you won’t have more assignments, even this year. But it would be a better idea to wait and allow yourself more time to recover, I think.”

To that, Ryla just sighed and hung her shoulders. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it and decided to compose herself some more first. And then, speaking slowly and choosing each word very deliberately, she made her point. “What am I recovering from, Vincent? Seeing my friends get burned alive? No amount of time is going to get that out of my head. The only thing I can do is keep moving on, and I’m already doing that. Being a fuckup and not doing enough and letting everything collapse in Hanoa? I’m over that already. I learned. It won’t happen again. Nearly dying? I don’t care about that. I’m just happy I got out with my life.”

She paused, and before Vincent could reply, she continued. “I didn’t join this organization to sit around and mope about bad things that have happened to me. I want to do something. I’m begging you, just give me any assignment. I don’t care if you send me to some shithole like Ezana or Hafistan or Vadonia, I just want to go somewhere and do something. Not in the office, but in the field with a gun at my hip and a mask over my face. If you want me to heal, give me something to get my mind off of things by going back to work.”

Vincent sighed, taking a long look at Ryla and reaching for one of the files on his desk. He opened it, reading through it quickly, before setting it down once again and meeting her gaze. “Alright. I have to admit that I may have been slightly disingenuous with you. While you were officially cleared to return to duty, your erratic behavior near the end of your stay in Hanoa has led to some concerns that the country affected you more than you realize. Because of that, we want to see you out of action for at least eight months-”

“Eight fucking months?” Ryla shouted, before lowering her voice and nervously brushing her thick hair back with one hand. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t even know what you mean by erratic behavior. None of my colleagues had a problem with me, as far as I know. I’m not saying I do everything perfectly, but I also don’t think I made any major errors when we were in Hanoa.”

“It’s not that your colleagues had a problem with you, per say. Quite the opposite. Some of them gave you glowing reviews, despite the problem. However, they also said that… You sometimes ventured into the territory of paranoia, rather than logic. Which I and the other senior staff members believe is a result of the very hostile environment that you were placed in, rather than a problem with yourself. Still, you could use the time away from it all-”

Ryla shook her head. “I know what you’re talking about. I said that there’s another state backing the Hanoan regime and that Resua isn’t the only one. I have a list of things that happened, to back this up. However, they didn't believe me because I didn’t have any… Let’s say hard evidence. But some things definitely happened and I even have pictures of some of them, it’s just that the others said the environment was getting to me when I told them my theory for what the pictures were exactly-”

“What things have happened then, Ryla? Give me your side of the story, off the record and without fear of being called paranoid. If you believe the official record has characterized your actions wrong, this is your chance to reverse that,” Blanc said, leaning back in the office chair and awaiting a response from her.

“Alright, so. I was approached by a Lorthan intelligence agent, a few months before the end of the assignment. We were staying in the countryside, of course, and three of us made the trip to Prasi to meet with the capital dissidents and pick up some supplies from them. We make a stop to eat and I get out of the van and walk into this Resuan fast food place, which they surprisingly have in Hanoa. Anyway, I’m going to walk out after getting my stuff and some guy intentionally bumps into me. He’s kinda obscuring himself, wearing sunglasses inside and wearing a baggy hoodie. Also, he’s definitely Eurian so I’m thinking he’s some kind of foreign agent,” Ryla started, closing her eyes to help her recall the story accurately.

She continued after a few moments. “I almost drop my stuff and this guy apologizes, and then, out of the blue, he straight up offers me two million marks to betray the Union and become a double agent. Now I didn’t get a good look at his face because of the hood and the sunglasses, but from his voice I was ninety percent sure that he’s Lorthan. Couldn’t have been any other accent unless he was from one of their former colonies, and none of those nations have the desire or cash to pay double agents. I ask him who’s giving me the money, and how he knew we were here, because I wanted to get some info out of him instead of just rejecting it and not learning anything. He tells me, however, that if I want the details I’ll have to find them myself. He told me that I know where to look, and he walked away and left through a back door.”

“And your team didn’t believe your story when you told them about this?”

“They all said it was weird because Lortha doesn’t have the most extensive intelligence network and well, the whole nation hasn’t recovered from the 80s yet. Their logic was that Lortha is too busy trying to restore itself through other ways to focus on flipping agents from us, and they said that a straight up offer of two million marks is absurd. Of course, nobody flat out called me crazy yet, but it was what they were thinking and this wasn’t the last incident,” Ryla sighed. “The next one wasn’t one incident. It was more of a recurring thing. And after the first thing, everyone else didn’t take it very well. I suppose if they believe I’m unwell, it started with that.”

Blanc looked up, before glancing at the file again. “What was this other incident that you believe changed your team’s opinion of you?”

“So there’s these helicopters that we saw flying all over Hanoa. Always military in design and always going somewhere fast. They have a blue mark somewhere on them, usually on the door, that we could never identify because the helicopters were too far up. They weren’t Hanoan military, I just know it. Hanoan helicopters are always green, and they’re produced in Resua or made using Resuan designs. These, on the other hand, were definitely a Vadonian design. I have pictures of them, I compared them with the ones that Vadonia makes and the design was definitely the same. And there’s no way these helicopters were foreign or anything like that, because foreign air traffic in Hanoa is banned. If they were Hanoan, they would have the marks of the Air Force, not the blue circles that were on the doors. The only explanation is that Hanoa is working with another state or some non state actor, and that’s why these foreign helicopters can travel across their airspace without being shot down,” Ryla explained.

“Your team, they considered this a part of your erratic pattern of behavior during the second half of your deployment?”

Ryla nodded, and she took out her phone and scrolled through her pictures, stopping at the one that displayed a Vadonian military helicopter over the Hanoan sky. It was of grainy quality, of course, as the helicopter was high up in the sky when the picture was taken, but everything seemed to check out and looked accurate to her story. “Look. I took this picture around the third time we saw one of those helicopters, and we saw them making plenty of flights to Prasi. I have more pictures like this. But the others believed that it was just unmarked Hanoan Air Force helicopters and when I said we seriously needed to look into where this secret support is coming from, the others told me that I was just being paranoid and that the area was messing with me just like it did when I ran into the Lorthan agent. Our leader told me off the records that he’d have to tell command if something like this came up again, and so I kept my head down. I kept my head down even as I ran into the final strange thing that I saw in Hanoa.”

“And that last thing would be?”

“Sometimes, we would have to help the local guerilla forces with their raids. When we would go around buildings like weapons depots, military bases, those kinds of areas, we would see soldiers that moved in small numbers and dressed in all black, unlike the grey or green uniforms that the normal Hanoan military wears. Of course, everyone assumed it was Hanoan special forces, but they weren’t using any loadouts that we know of those units using. They had Vadonian rifles and I thought about saying something but I just kept my head down and didn’t bring it up because I didn’t want to risk being sent home. Just this by itself might not be especially concerning, but you have to realize that these things keep happening and I wasn’t even there for an entire year You’ve seen the helicopter picture yourself, I’m not just making this up. And I’m not crazy, either.”

Another long pause from Blanc. He set the file down, sliding Ryla’s phone back across the table to her. His fingers drummed against the table, but it was more of an absent minded gesture that came from deep thought. “I believe that there may be at least some truth to what you tell me. More than some, really. You haven’t shown the mental makeup of the kind of person that would break, the kind that would see things where they weren’t there. Especially when your colleagues have rated your performances in other areas very highly. However, during an operation like the one in Hanoa, we can’t afford to dedicate resources to goose chases based on suspicions that don’t have solid evidence behind them. We were stretched thin as it is, trying to run a rebellion in a nation where everything is set up to prevent that from happening. Still… You may not have been completely wrong. I don’t think that you exactly saw nothing.”

Blanc sighed and put the file away somewhere behind the desk, and then sat down to look Ryla in the eye. “Tell me. What happened at the end of the Hanoa operation? I want to hear it in your own words, just like you told me about your theories in your own words. Sometimes, your side of the story will be very different than what the official version says.”

Now, it was Ryla’s turn to have a long pause. “What else is there to say, other than what you’ve already read? Turns out Hanoa has a hell of a counterintelligence program. It’s the reason their regime has passed the test of time. They ended up catching us by surprise. Found the place where we were staying, surrounded it by soldiers. We were in a siege before we knew what was happening and they set the building on fire, to either drive us out or burn us. Part of the ceiling collapsed, and some of my colleagues were stuck in one of the burning parts of the building. Others, they got shot by the Hanoans when they ran out of the building. They really weren’t messing around that day. Weren’t taking prisoners, they just wanted to eliminate the people that were running a rebellion behind the scenes in their country. I break one of the back windows, and take off running and get to the tree line without getting shot. I keep running and they lose track of where I am, and I get to the backup safehouse after walking on foot. That’s the most detailed version of things I can give. It all blurs together in my mind.”

“Mmm. Listen, Ryla. I just don’t know about sending you back out into the field after that happened. So recently after it happened, I mean. You were front and center for one of the worst disasters in the history of Latin Military Intelligence. You had to run for your life, even. This is the kind of thing that can psychologically break some lesser agents. You may have survived, but do you really belong under the same pressure again, not much longer?”

“With all due respect, it’s been months since it happened. Also, as I said earlier, it’s better to send me back out into the field and give me something to think about instead of letting it stay in my head because I don’t have anything to do but hang around and think about the past. I just want to get back to my job, get a change of scenery, and distract myself with, you know, working. If it goes bad, you can pull me, but please… I need this assignment. I’m going to be worse off without it-”

“We might just have something, and it’s more of a matter of circumstance than a matter of wanting to send you back out quickly. We need a new agent on another team, Paladin, and they’re going to be deployed to Conai soon enough. We’ve been watching the situation around the rise of Fernando Buenvenida and the Resuan backed government there, and after their latest moves to endanger the Latin population there, we’re planning to move into action. Paladin will be the first unit on the island and will be involved with some… Subversive activities to set up a possible liberation of Conai. It’s the same type of thing you did in Hanoa, against a government that’s much less adept at preventing it. If you’re interested, I have a briefing file right here.”

“I’m not gonna let you down for giving me this chance,” Ryla said, taking the file. “I don’t even need to read all this, I know I’m taking this job. And I’ll do whatever I can to help this other team. I’ll take whatever position, even if it isn’t as high as the one I had before and-”

“Thank me with your actions in the field, not your words. Now, you might want to read the file before you blindly accept this operation. It’s not as potentially difficult as the one in Hanoa but there’s some unique things that you should be aware about. The file has everything we know so far on the situation. Also, as far as your position, you would be filling a higher role and would become the third highest ranked member in Paladin. Read it over and call tomorrow to tell me if you’re still interested or not,” said Blanc, cutting her off. “And one last thing, Ryla. Take care of yourself. If things aren’t going well, say something. It’s not worth risking another disaster just to stay out there.”

---

The wave slammed against the side of the ship, again and again. The mission was simple. Get to Conai, make contact with the group of rebels in the north of the country, and strike a deal that would grant support for an eventual invasion by Evemont. However, it was easier said than done and involved departing from a disguised ship in the middle of the night and boarding a smaller boat that would take them to the shoreline. In the darkness, it was hardly easy to see what was in front of the boat, and the night vision gear made the task even harder. But that was why they were doing this. If it was hard to see the land, it would be hard to see their arrival from the beach. “Hallanan! Are we still on target for land?” barked Rino Durante, the head of the Paladin team.

Ryla sat up, after keeping herself low before to avoid falling out of the boat when it was rocked by waves, and raised her night vision binoculars. “We’re still on course, but barely! We need to pull the boat to the right, and keep going.”

“You heard her, get us on course again,” said the one with the map, Executive Officer Andre Joubert. There were about six of them in the raft, and the two agents standing by the wheel wrestled with it against the waves. Another one hit the side, and some water got in the boat. Everyone knew the whether was going to be bad, but not many predicted that it would be like this. “Don’t let up unless you want to run into the rocks!”

“I’m doing my best,” said one of the other agents, and they were eventually on course again. When they hit the beach, the six operators climbed out of the raft and dragged it towards the tree line. It wouldn’t be wise to leave it here where anyone could come across it. They were invisible to the authorities right now, and it needed to remain that way. The raft was quickly hidden in the shrubbery, at least for anyone that was watching from the air, and Durante waved for the team to follow after him into the area where the trees parted and where there was a trail leading towards the hills near the beach.

The WPC-IO was interested in talking to them, but they didn’t negotiate over the internet because it wasn’t a secure platform. As a result, the agents would head to a meeting point just down the way from this beach, and they would meet up with a group of rebels who would drive them further into the jungle to a camp where their alleged leader, former CDF Colonel Juanito Romero, was staying. That is, if the WPC-IO was telling them the truth and wasn’t leading them on here.

"This is the meeting point," said Ryla, once the group had followed the trail and reached a clearing in the dense jungle. It didn't appear that anyone was here at the moment, however. It was possible that there was a group in the trees, maybe, but the night vision equipment made it hard to tell if there was. Anyone with good camouflage would blend right in, and that was what unnerved Ryla. In her experience, guerillas weren't always the most trustworthy people to deal with. "What are we going to do, keep going and see if we meet them? Put up some kind of signal?"

"We wait," said Durante, raising a hand to silence his team as he took a look around. "We already crossed an ocean to get here. Let's not panic because they didn't come to pick us up immediately."

---

"Are you sure they're legit and not a provocation?" His second-in-command, a man by the name of Hermas hissed into his ear.

Juanito Romero shook his head. "No." He wanted to be sure, but you could never be sure with these things. The pair of them, along with a scattering of a few other guerillas, all armed, had formed a loose cordon around the area, hidden in the vegitation and undergrowth, watching out both for the intelligence officers they were supposed to be meeting and any hostile elements. "But you're confident they're who we've been waiting for."

Hermas responded. "As confident as I'll get. They may look similar to the mercs, but there are small things, different guns from what I can see, and only five or six at most."

Juanito paused, lowering the pair of binoculars and handing them over to Hermas, who quickly handed them back. "They've stopped. No way in hell mercs would stop if they were out on patrol. Keep an eye on them just in case."

Juanito nodded in silence as Hermas rose into a crouch, slowly and carefully picking his way through the undergrowth, the only sound of his movement the telltale rustling of a bush as he worked his way around from the side so he'd emerge at the front of the group. No need to spook them unnecessarily. Eventually, he made it into position, pausing momentarily to catch a breath and make a final assessment of the group. Six or so people, small for a mercenary patrol at night in what they knew was their territory.

What he presumed was nigh vision equipment, not unheard of but again unusual in such a small group. He gave his rifle yet another check out of habit. Fine. Well, here went nothing. With the rustling of bushes he emerged from the jungles, rifle held ready in case things did turn bad. "I presume you're the ones here to meet us?" He called out, careful not to let his voice carry too far. No sense in tipping off a stray patrol, however unlikely one being around was. You couldn't be too careful.

The situation was tense, to say the least, as Hermas emerged from the darkness. The low visibility and the reliance on NV equipment only made it worse, and Durante held up a hand again to signal for his soldiers to stay back and let him do the talking. He had been holding his gun in hand, but he instead hung it from his shoulder. Of course, the others still had their guns, but it was a decent gesture at least that the leader of the unit was willing to speak with the rebels without a weapon.

"Yes. While we can't disclose details at this point, our unit is from Latin Military Intelligence. I'm the commanding officer, and my callsign is Dash. Immediately behind me are my Executive Officer, Viking, and our translator, Princess," replied Durante. "I believe you were going to bring us to a larger camp, correct?"

"Call me Hermas, and yes." He turned to the side and raised his left arm in silence, a signal to his fellows hiding in the undergrowth that everything was fine. If it was his right arm, that would've been the signal to open fire. He glanced around, slightly twitchy. "My comrades have vehicles waiting nearby. You'll be able to talk with the Colonel once we're back to camp. This is our country, but the mercs come through too damn often."

He gestured for the group to follow him, heading off at a slow jog into the jungle, glancing back every once in a while to make sure they were keeping up and still following him. Eventually, they reached a clearing where three old, battered-looking jeeps sat. One was already full with other guerrillas, the other two half empty.

"Climb in." Hermas gestured to the two jeeps as he climbed into the passenger seat of one, and once everyone was sat down the trio of jeeps set off, their engines the only sound in the night air as they drove down a small jungle trail.

Durante nodded silently, turning and giving the go ahead for his own team to follow Hermas and enter the jeeps. "You said that mercs come around this place. That's not something that we're aware of, from the recon we've already gathered about Conai," stated Ryla, after getting into a jeep next to Durante. It made sense for her to stay close, when she was the one that could translate Spanish if the need arose. "Do you know anything about their origins? And I assume they're on the payroll of the new government."

"Beyond they're international I know nothing. They're good, far better than the regular army, better equipped, been giving us issues for a couple of weeks or so." Hermas shrugged as the jeeps wove their way down the jungle trail. "I can say they're not English-speakers for sure as I can't understand a word they say." He paused.

"I was a lecturer for English at the University of Weston." He offered by way of explanation. "And yes, the Colonel thinks they're on the government's payroll, although we've never seen them with the regular Army." He bit back a laugh. "Ironic, a communist regime hiring foreign mercs."

This was... An interesting development. Something that they hadn't planned for. They would have to make a note in their recon files that they should expect to face foreign mercenaries, ones with better training than the conscripts that made up the majority of the Conaian military under the new regime. Depending on the numbers, it could change their strategy in a major way.

They hadn't came here expecting to face an army that was competent, as the CDF's new doctrine relied on numbers over skill. "Resua has always been happy to deal with false communist regimes if it supports their strategic goals," Ryla remarked. "Do the mercenaries appear to be Kaharan, or Northern Eurian by any chance? We may be able to help out against them, but their region is important. Determines a lot of things about them."

"I have no idea, but they're probably Eurian of some form. Or at least the few I've seen are probably Eurian." Hermas shrugged. "They fight in ballistic masks so I've never gotten a really good look at that many of them. However..." He turned to the jeep's driver, tapping him lightly on the shoulder before speaking to him in Spanish.

"Miguel, do you know if we've captured any of their equipment?"

"A bit." Miguel replied. "Not much, a rifle, two SMGs, a few other pieces. Probably more. Why?"

"The foreigners want to know about the mercs."

He turned to look back into the back of the jeep. "Miguel says we've captured some of their equipment, if you want to take a look at that when we get to camp. Might give you more of a clue as to who they are since we know little."

"Changes our philosophy a bit depending on whether they are or aren't. Kaharan mercs are no problem. Eurian ones, especially Northern Eurian... They're more professional. Either way, we'll take a look when we get to the camp," said Durante. "Another question, one that may be more suited for you're Colonel, but I'll ask it here. What's Corosa's role in all this? We don't have enough contacts on the ground to tell, but if anyone throws a wrench into our plans of subverting the Resuans here, it's them. They're a wild card, and their navy was making it damn hard for us to even set up this meeting. They supplying or training the government troops?"

"Supplying, yes. Or they have been. Quite a few of our weapons are stolen from government armouries, and they're all either Resuan, copies of Resuan weapons or Corosan, mostly the former two. A few from other nations but those are old holdovers, pre-revolutionary imports."

"As for trainers-" Hermas was interruped as Miguel drove them over a particularly large mound on the road. "Well the Colonel would know for sure, but I'd hazard a guess at probably." They turned off the trail onto a smaller, narrower one, winding its way up out of the jungle and up into some low but still forested hills. "Should be at the camp soon-ish."

"Right. I'd like to say that those Resuan weapons are as shit as everything else that the red dragon produces, but that would be a lie. If either Evemont or the Union pulls the trigger and comes to liberate this place, they have one hell of a fight waiting for them," Durante said. The LMI soldiers rode in mostly silence, most of them looking around often at the terrain. It wasn't that often that they found themselves in tropical jungles like this, after all.

"This must be familiar for you," said Joubert, to Ryla. She shook her head, however.

"It might seem like it should be one, but Hanoa isn't a jungle country. This is just as new to me as it is to you."

They drove on through the jungles for some time, slowly climbing up through the hills, the jungles growing gradually sparser, the trail growing wider as they made their way out of the jungles and into the foothills of the mountains.

"We're camped out around a cluster of caves in the foothills currently." Hermas explained as the column of jeeps pulled up to a halt in a small clearing, the guerillas dismounting and wheeling the jeeps underneath the sparser jungle canopy before pulling camoflague netting over the jeeps. As the other guerrillas hid the jeeps away, a lone figure in an unmarked khaki uniform approached the group and Hermas who remained behind as Miguel and the other guerillas on their jeep wheeled it away.

"Colonel." Hermas gave a lazy salute to Juanito as he approached.

"I hope Hermas has caught you up as much as he can." Juanito spoke in Spanish, trusting Hermas and their own translator to translate. "I'll elaborate further if there's anything specific you need. We go on foot from here."

Juanito turned to follow one of the small groups of guerillas off into the jungle, Hermas bringing up the rear of the group.

"There's more walking and traveling through the jungle than you said there would be, boss," Joubert remarked, and Durante shook his head to silence him.

"Not every operation can take place in a city," Durante replied, before turning his attention to Ryla as she gave the translation of what Hermas had said. In a way, it was fitting that she was their translator. She was definitely the best student out of the group, even if she had went directly into Military Intelligence instead of attending college. She understood it completely, and spoke it fluently, even if her Celtic accent remained.

"Particularly," Ryla started in Spanish, translating for Durante. "It would be useful if you could give us your version of the situation on the ground in Conai. The brass back home want to know how much we need to commit to get results out of this operation."

"As much as they're willing to commit." Juanito answered immedately, talking as they walked, Hermas staying silent and trusting in the team's translator to translate it over. He was just an English teacher, not a professional translator. "Although the Army's an unenthusiastic, undisciplined mob, even all of our various groups and cells combined would lose if we attempted an open revolt."

Juanito continued. "They're an utter mess as it is now though. We've got sympathisers in the lower ranks who keep us informed of almost their every move, but since the mercs work independently from the regular Army they've been running us ragged, appearing out of nowhere. Give the Army enough of a kick, take one or two cities and it'll start to collapse from desertion, but the mercs, along with the more 'professional' units of the army-"

He made air quotes with his hands as he referred to them. "Which, if memory serves are based close to the capital, will put up a fight regardless of what the other units do."

"The Air Force has been giving us some problems, but against any foreign air force they're dead. Old equipment, ill-trained. Navy isn't a factor." They continued walking for a few more minutes, eventually reaching a small cave in the side of one of the hills. There was no light coming from inside, but the occasional faint movement could be seen within. "Anything else you want to pick my brain for?"

"The Air Force won't be a problem if Evemont gets involved, I can assure you of that. The mercenaries are a harder task, we've dealt with them before and they're a bitch to handle. Trained like a real army, if they're from Northern Eurus. Anyway..." started Durante, pausing and looking for the right words. "We need to know what the endgame is here. Funding rebels has a tendency to go bad, unless there's a solid plan in place. We don't want a repeat of Kashan, obviously. If we're going to help you, we need the goals of the WPC-IO to align with the goals of the Conian League. Otherwise, you can expect trouble down the line."

"The endgame, presuming a successful overthrow of the current regime is achieved, is... Spotty at best." Juanito answered hesitantly. "Mostly wide-ranging things with little precise details. Beyond arranging trials for leading members of the regime, the return of all seized assets to their original owners and democratic elections being held, likely with foreign observers, it all depends who actually ends up leading the transitional government for those more precise details. The fate of state-owned property and the like. Of course," He smiled a bitter smile. "We have to win first."

"The return to our democracy is the main goal here. We do, however, have a vested interest in returning President Chacon, who is currently exiled in Evemont, to his previous position. The Helson Coalition and the Developing Nations Pact are both rising threats to the Conian League's presence in the area. We know for a fact that Chacon had no intentions of aligning with either of those groups, making him a... Better leader than most. If you agree to put Chacon back in power, we can guarantee you Latin made weapons and support from the Special Forces Group, which is already being briefed on the situation on the island," Durante said. "In a way, we just want things to return to the way they were before."

Juanito was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "The most I can promise regarding President Chacon, and potentially other exiled political figures, is that he will lead the provisional government during the period after the fall of the current regime. After that, fair and free eletions should be held to determine the new government, and if Chacon wins or loses, well..." Juanito gave a small shrug. "Such is life, but elections will be necessary to ensure the reinstalled government has legitimacy in the eyes of the people. Getting things entirely back to how they were before is impossible, but we shall do what we can to restore the previous state of affairs. We must back out of this hellhole to go forwards, after all."

"Fair enough. Viking will radio this info back to the ship, and they'll relay it to higher command. With luck, we'll get a response on these terms soon. In the meantime, we should go over specific assets and strategies, so we'll know what to send..."